CURSILLO CHRISTMAS Reflection By Fr. Kevin Powell, OSB

As we enter the Christmas Season, let us take time to reflect on this joyous Season… One of my favorite Christmas stories is A Christmas Carol. I have seen them all, probably 100 times… And there’s this scene in the opening of the movie between Scrooge and his nephew Fred, when Fred comes to visit his Uncle Scrooge at his office, and he’s just so full of Christmas joy. Fred is the embodiment of rejoicing. He doesn’t have much money, he lives a modest life, but every year he invites his Uncle Scrooge over for Christmas dinner. So he enters Scrooge’s office and says, “Merry Christmas Uncle!” And of course his uncle responds with that famous line, “Bah! Humbug!” And Scrooge goes on to say, “What right have you to be merry? What reason have you to be merry? You’re poor enough.” You see, Scrooge is confusing joy with happiness.

And we have to be careful we don’t make the same mistake. You see, Scrooge might just as well say to us, “What reason have you to be merry? But Fred answers with a true understanding of joy. He says, “What right have you to be dismal? What reason have you to be morose? You’re rich enough.”
Scrooge has all this money and he still has no joy. Fred understands, and his trying to get his uncle to understand, that joy isn’t about external circumstances like wealth or comfort or good health, but it’s a state of being caused by the incredibly Good News that Jesus has come, is coming, and will come again.
And Scrooge just doesn’t get it. But as we know, he does eventually learn the difference between happiness and joy with the help of three spirits who can help us understand, too. In the gospel John the Baptist tells the people, “There is one among you whom you do not recognize.” Jesus is among them but they don’t see Him. The solution to Scrooge’s misery is right in front of him, but he doesn’t see it. And so he is visited by three spirits who help him to look at his past, his present and his future through new eyes. They force him to examine his life more closely.

The Spirit of Christmas Past takes him to see his childhood, his youth, and he looks at those years with different eyes now. What if the Spirit of Christmas Past took us on a journey to our past? Because we, too, have a history, where would we be taken? What events from the past would the spirit show to you and to me?

Then there’s the Spirit of Christmas Present. This spirit takes Scrooge to visit those people in his present life who understand true joy: Bob Cratchit and his family… Where would the Spirit of Christmas Present take us? What would we see in our lives today that we might have overlooked? Who are the Bob Cratchit’s and the Tiny Tim’s among us, full of joy even in the midst of this challenging time? It is our call to seek out the poor, the afflicted, those suffering in body and soul, and to care for them, to serve them, and above all recognize the presence of Christ in them.

Now, the final visitor for Scrooge is, as you remember, the Spirit of Christmas Yet to Come. This silent and forbidding spirit takes Scrooge to see his future, or at least one possible future. And it frightens him. Scrooge’s future holds no rejoicing. He looks at what where he’s going, he looks at where he’s at, he looks at where he’s been, and he finally comes to understand. He understands Christmas joy.

That’s the call for us this Advent Season— to look at our past, our present, and our future, remembering the God who has come, who is coming, and who will come again. To recognize Christ in the needy and to help them. If you have never watched or read this beautiful story, do it before Advent is over…you will get a different understanding of Rejoicing and Joy… And as you read or watch or listen, imagine those spirits taking you to your past, present and future, and take the time to examine God’s presence in your life. And regardless of what is going on around us, in the face of that Good News, we rejoice.
God Bless…